Efforts have long been made to strengthen glass articles, including flat glass, glass containers formed of ordinary soda lime glass, and borosilicate low expansion articles. These efforts have been directed primarily towards tempering of the glass by a variety of processes including chemical tempering and air tempering which involves rapid cooling of the surfaces of a heated article to place the surfaces in compression. Additionally, it has long been known to apply coatings to glass articles, tempered as well as non-tempered, for a variety of purposes. These processes are exemplified in the following prior art patents: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,108,479; 5,089,039; 5,085,805; 5,043,002; 4,728,353; 4,615,916; 4,530,857; 4,457,957; 3,996,035: and 3,850,679.